Folding table



W. BOARDMAN Sept. 17, 1940.

FOLDING TABLE Filod Nov. 22, 1938 I I l IIIIIIIII-IIIIIIII'I NVENTOR I-1 ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 17, 1940 PATET OFFiCE FOLDING TABLE WhitlockBoardrnan, Hoboken, N. J.,. assignor to Ferguson Brothers ManufacturingCompany, Hobcken, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey ApplicationNovember 22, 1938, Serial No. 241,804.

5 Claims.

This invention relates to a folding table and has for an object toprovide a structure wherebythe legs are firmly and rigidly held in theiropen or operative position without the necessity of any diagonal bracesleading from leg to table frame.

Another object consists in providing such a structure in which manualoperation-of the legs in opening and closing is very simply and easilyperformed with the aid of mechanism that is positive in action.

Another object consists in providing such a structure in which themechanical elements constituting the leg attaching, supporting, andactuating mechanism may be very economically stamped out or otherwiseformed; and in which assembly of the parts may be expeditiouslyaccomplished at a minimum of labor costs.

A further object consists in providing certain improvements in the form,construction and arrangement of the several parts, whereby the abovenamed and other objects may effectively be attained.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in theaccompanying drawing, in Which i Fig. 1 represents a detail bottom planview, partly in section, showing 'a corner of the, table frame and alegin open or operative position;

Fig. 2 represents a view similar to Fig. 1, with the leg in closed orinoperative position;

Fig. 3 represents a detail section, partly in elevation, with the leg inopen or operative position as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 represents a section, partly in elevation, taken at right anglesto Fig. 3, and substantially in the plane of the line IV-IV of Fig. 1,looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig.5 represents a section taken in the plane of the line VV of Fig. 1,looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 6 represents a section taken in the plane of the line VI-VI of Fig.2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the form of the invention shown in the drawing, the tablestructure includes a peripheral frame composed of four like members, twoof which are shown and marked l, 2. The said frame members are suitablysecured to each other at the corners, and they carry depending flanges,which are also alike, and two ,of which are denoted by the referencenumerals 3, 4. The frame members and flangesare preferably composed. ofwood, and the former are cut away at their inner circumference, asindicated at 5, to provide for reception of a top 6 which may becomposed of thin wood, fiber board, or other suitable material, and besecured in place by adhesive, nails, or in any other desired manner.Surrounding the cut away portion 5, there is formed in the frame membersa groove 1 which is intended to receive the edges of a flexiblecovering, not shown, in accordance with a practice now well understoodin this art.

The mechanism for fastening, operating, and bracing each leg is thesame, so that it is only necessary to show and describe a single one ofthe four mechanisms with which the table is provided. 1 a V The saidmechanism comprises a head piece 8 that is U-shaped incross section soas to closely embrace three sides of the leg 9. This head piece is veryfirmly secured to the leg by a pair of screws 18, Hi, that enter theback of the leg, and by a rivet. bolt or the like H which passes throughthe leg and two parts of the head piece, ina direction'at right anglesto screws Ill, I0.

The head piece 8 fits snugly within a housing member l2 that issimilarly'shaped in cross section and is firmly secured to the flanges3, 4 byscrews l3, l4, M. The screws I4, l4 also pass through a cheekplate [5 that lies against flange 4, and the opposite side of housing I2is rigidlypressed and clamped in position by an angle iron it which isfastened to flange 3 by screws H, H.

A pivot l8, traverses the leg 9 and is held in the sides of housing l2so as to provide for the usual swinging movement of the leg into openand closed positions, and it will be seen that the elements previouslydescribed constitute a very strong and rigid bracing means to prohibitany'movement of the leg, when open, in a direction transverse to itsplane of swinging, as well as any movement beyond its full openedposition.

The structure also includes mechanism for locking the leg in open andclosed positions, which mechanism comprises a thumb lever 19, the innerend of which is rolled into a bore for the reception of a pin 25 theextremities of which ride in slots 2!, 22 formed in the sides of headpiece 8. It wlll be observed, further, that the sides of housing 82, thecheek piece I5, and the angle iron it are cut away so as to permitmovement of the said extremities of the pin 20 in slots 2|, 22. This cutaway formation of one side of housing 12 and of angle iron I6 is wellshown in Fig. 3, where the'cut away portion in housing 12 is marked 23.The formation of the a cut away in the other side of housing I 2 and incheek piece [5 is the same. Pin 20 has a head 24 on its inner end, whichlies at all times between one side of housing I2 and table frame flange4, and thus prevents any longitudinal displacement of the said pin whichneeds to have no heading or riveting on its other end to resist itsdislodgment.

The rolled portion of thumb lever I9 is centrally cut away, as indicatedat 25, to receive the extremity 26 of a retractile coil spring 21 whichhas its lower end anchored by a screw 28 fixed in the leg 9, and itsupper end coiled around pin 20. The said extremity 26 of spring 21 bearsupon thumb lever I9 so as normally to urge it to a position extendinginwardly substantially at right angles to the leg, as well shown in Fig.5, while the retractile efiectof spring 21 tends to draw pin 20downwardly in slots 2|, 22, as also well shown in Fig. 5.

Intermediate its ends, thumb lever 19 rests upon a pair of ears 29, 29that project toward each other from the sides of head piece 8, the saidears thus constituting, in effect, a fulcrum on which lever l9 operateswhen its free extremity is manually depressed from the position shown inFig. 5 in order to lift pin 20 upwardly in slots 2i, 22 against thetension of spring 27.

The lower front edges of the sides of housing 12 are cut away to formnotches 30, 30 that are fitted to receive the ends of pin 20 when theleg is in folded position in order to lock the leg against accidentaldisplacement from said position, and the retractile tension of spring 21serves to urge pin 20 into notches 3U, 30 when the leg is closed. Itwill be observed, however, that said notches 3U, 30 are somewhat shallowand curved on a radius substantially greater than the radius of thecross section of pin 20. This relative formation enables the forcing orwithdrawal of pin 20 from slots 30, 3!] by a manual pull upon the legwhen it is desired to open the same, so that the lock which holds theleg in closed position may thus be overcome without the necessity ofoperating any mechanism.

When the leg is in open position, the pin 20 is constantly urgeddownwardly in slots 2|, 22 and in cut away portions 23 formed in thesides of housing l2, thus firmly locking the leg in open position andagainst collapsing by pressure ex erted upon the leg itself. In order toinsure that the leg is rigidly maintained in its open position, in spiteof wear upon the coacting parts, the slots 2i, 22 are set at an angle soas to force pin 20, in its downward movement under the influence ofspring 21, against one side of cut away portions 23, which is the righthand side as shown in Fig. 3. As these parts wear, the pin 20 will beurged downwardly a little further from time to time, but it will alwaysbe pressed firmly against the said side of cut away portion 23 for thepur pose just stated.

In operation, assuming the leg to be closed, it is simply necessary toseize it manually and pull it into open position. This operation, asexplained above, will forcibly remove the ends of pin 20 from notches30, 30 and, when the leg reaches its fully open position, the said endsof pin 2|] will be pulled downwardly in slots 2|, 22 by spring 21, untilthey are jammed into cut away portions 23, thus rigidly locking the legin open position. In order to fold the leg, or return it to closedposition, it is necessary manually to press the free extremity of thumblever l9. This force will cause the lever to swing on ears 29, 29,

as a fulcrum and to lift the ends of pin 20 in slots 2|, 22, against thetension of spring 21, until they are clear of cut away portions 23. Withthe said parts in this position, the leg may be swung manually to closeit. As the leg approaches closed position, the free end of thumb leverl9 will contact the bottom of frame member 2 and be forced thereby,against the tension of extremity 26 of spring 21, until the said leverl9 lies substantially parallel with the closed leg as well shown in Fig.6. On opening the leg, the said lever will return, under the influenceof spring extremity 26, to its position projecting away from the leg, aswell illustrated in Fig. 5.

It will be observed that the structure hereinabove described is entirelydevoid of the diagonal braces which are sometimes inconvenient inoperation and which are always, at least to a certain extent, in theway, particularly from the point of view of leg room, when a table is inuse. The mechanism is simple, economical, adaptable to ordinary forms oftable frame construction, and very rigid and positive in operation.

While I have shown the mechanism as applied to the legs of a foldingtable, it should be observed that the same is applicable to other kindsof furniture which are appropriately equipped with folding legs.

I desire it tobe understood that various changes may be resorted to inthe form, construction and arrangement of the several parts,without-departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence Ido not intend to-be limited to the details herein shown and described,

except as they may be included in the claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an article of furniture having a fram and foldable legs, means forpivoting each leg to the frame and bracing the same comprising, a memberembracing three sides of the leg, said member being secured to the legand having proj ecting portions, a housing secured to the frame andembracing said member and leg with its edges projecting, said housingpermitting swingingmovement of the leg and member within the housing toallow folding and unfolding but resisting movement in anyother'directionv tov pro mote rigidity, and complementary mechanismcarried by said member and said housing for locking .the leg in foldedand unfolded positions, said mechanism including slots formed in theprojecting portions of said member, recesses formed in the projectingedges of said housing, and a spring actuated pin mounted in said slotswith its ends extending into the planes of the projecting edges of saidhousing for cooperation with said recesses, the angular relationship ofthe slots and a side of the recesses being suchthat the ends of said pinwill be crowded against said wall of the recesses as it enters the samewhen the leg is in unfolded position.

2. In an article of furniture having a frame and foldable legs, meansfor pivoting each leg to the frame and bracing the same comprising,amember embracing three sides of the leg, said member being secured tothe leg and having projecting portions, a housing secured to the frameand embracing said member and leg with its edges projecting, saidhousing permitting swinging movement of the leg and member within thehousing to allow folding and unfolding but resisting movement in anyother direction to promote rigidity, and complementary mechanism carriedby said member and said housingfor locking the leg in folded andunfolded positions,

said mechanism including slots formed in the projecting portions of saidmember, recesses formed in the projecting edges of said housing, and aspring actuated pin mounted in said slots with its ends extending intothe planes of the projecting edges of said housing for cooperation withsaid recesses, the angular relationship of the slots and a side of therecesses being such that the ends of said pin will be crowded againstsaid wall of the recesses as it enters the same when the leg is inunfolded position, said pin having one end provided with a head which islocated between the housing and frame and thereby prevents axialdislodgment of the pin.

3. In an article of furniture having a frame and foldable legs, meansfor pivoting each leg to the frame and bracing the same comprising, amember embracing three sides of the leg, said member being secured tothe leg and having projecting portions, a housing secured to the frameand embracing said member and leg with its edges projecting, saidhousing permitting swinging movement of the leg and member within thehousing to allow folding and unfolding but resisting movement in anyother direction to promote rigidity, complementary mechanism carried bysaid member and said housing for looking the leg in folded and unfoldedpositions, said mechanism including slots formed in the projectingportions of said member, recesses formed in the projecting edges of saidhousing, and a spring actuated pin mounted in said slots with its endsextending into the planes of the projecting edges of said housing forcooperation with said recesses, the angular relationship of the slotsand a side of the recesses being such that the ends of said pin will becrowded against said wall of the recesses as it enters the same when theleg is in unfolded position, and a lever pivoted on said pin andfulcrumed on said member for actuating the pin.

4. In an article of furniture having a frame and foldable legs, meansfor pivoting each leg to the frame and bracing the same comprising,

a member embracing three sides of the leg, said member being secured tothe leg and having projecting portions, a housing secured to the frameand embracing said member and leg with its edges projecting, saidhousing permitting swinging movement of the leg and member Within thehousing to allow folding and unfolding but resisting movement in anyother direction to promote rigidity, complementary mechanism carried bysaid member and said housing for looking the leg in folded and unfoldedpositions, said mechanism including slots formed in the projectingportions of said member, recesses formed in the projecting edges of saidhousing, and a spring actuated pin mounted in said slots with its endsextending into the planes of the projecting edges of said housing forcooperation with said recesses, the angular relationship of the slotsand a side of the recesses being such that the ends of said pin will becrowded against said wall of the recesses as it enters the same when theleg is in unfolded position, inwardly extending projections on saidmember, and a lever pivoted on said pin and fitted to bear upon saidprojections as a fulcrum for actuating the pin.

5. In an article of furniture having a frame and foldable legs, meansfor pivoting each leg to the frame and bracing the same, mechanism forlocking each leg in both folded and unfolded positions, and means foractuating said locking means including a lever mounted to projectinwardly from said leg in the plane of the swinging movement thereof,and yieldable means for normally holding the lever in said position,whereby the folding of the leg will bring the lever in contact with thatpart of the article of furniture against which the leg is folded andmove the lever into a position approximately parallel to the leg, whilethe unfolding of the leg will permit the lever automatically to reassumeits projecting position under the influence of said yieldable means.

WHITLOCK BOARDMAN.

